Rush Hour in NYC

During the AM and PM rush hours in NYC you often find yourself jam packed in the subways with thousands of other people. More often than not, you barely have any space to yourself let alone the bag that you brought with you. Even if you can manage to move your arms around to get to your bag, you still might not be able to access it as often it will get stuck in between any number of people crowded right up against you. 

Even though most people opt for a backpack or messenger style bag to carry items to work every day, not every one needs that much carrying space and it’s really quite excessive considering they just take up extra unnecessary room in a city that is already overcrowded in nearly every way imaginable. For those who bring just a few important items to work every day such as a mobile phone, tablet, planner, snacks and other small items, a smaller bag is much more efficient yet most small bags still can easily get caught between people. 

To solve the problem of needing a bag that carries essential items but that doesn’t take up that much space and get caught in between people, we wanted to bring to life a compact bag that can hold all the essential gear. But in the most compact and slimmest form possible that would address the problems commonly faced by commuters in NYC and every large rapidly growing urban city around the world.

To create an all new type of bag, we listed out requirements for an ideal design that we would want to make a crowded commute much easier and efficient. 

Key Requirements 

1. Thin - Incredibly thin to easily get around crowded spaces and to easily store away at home
2. Light Weight - Very light weight to reduce the burden of what you have to carry every day
3. Front Pockets - Must have easily accessible pockets in the front of the bag to easily reach gear quickly without turning around the bag
4. Hidden Pockets - Be able to access and store a subway card, cash or other items that might be frequently used if not bring a wallet 
5. Protection - Padded structure to ensure that gear is secure and safe at all times

Design Details

Structure 

A waist pack offered the initial inspiration for the way in which to structure the bag, but as a complete solution, it just didn’t offer the best convenience as this design still sometimes gets caught between people and for the fact that you constantly have to turn around the bag to access contents. But the cross body placement of a waist pack was the start for the overall structure of the Transport in terms of how it should be designed.

Accessibility

The next step in the design process was to create a unique way in which to access, from the front strap, mobile phones any other important gear that would be frequently used. Taking inspiration from military belts with numerous pockets that are often worn across the chest we thought we could innovate upon this belt design but specifically for urban city usage. 

Pockets

So we positioned thick 2” webbing in a T shaped layout with an extra horizontal strap that when sewn on the sides created a highly durable and secure pocket but also allows quick access to virtually any size smartphone or other items contained inside the pocket.

Security

Additionally on the inside of the front strap it was important to provide additional pockets for a frequently used subway card and building entrance ID along with a zip up pocket to store cash. All 3 of these pockets would be placed on the underside of the front strap to increase security in crowded environments. 

Storage

For the back of the bag, we wanted to include enough room to store a small tablet and a few additional items but at the same time not providing too much room as to add unnecessary weight. Since users might store tech gear in the bag, we made sure to include thick foam core padding on both sides of the back compartment to ensure that bumps and drops would solidly protect items inside. Additionally inside the main compartment there are individual pockets to help with the organization and securing of a small tablet or other items. 

After months of continual testing and improvement the Transport was finally finished. We extensively tested it on crowded subways, buses and trains and it held up amazingly. Overall it provided an unmatched level of convenience over any other type of bag and was an instant success after launching.